The present specification relates generally to optical connectors and, more particularly to device-to-device optical connectors.
Optical connectors are used in a variety of applications where one or more optical fibers of a set of optical fibers are in optical communication with another set of one or more optical fibers, circuit boards, or other devices. Various small form factor connectors have been proposed. However, many of the small form factor connectors must be fabricated precisely and are susceptible to dust and other environmental factors.
For device-to-device optical connector (DDOC) type consumer applications, expanded beam optical connector assemblies have been proposed. Expanded beam connectors include optics that increase beam diameter and/or collimate a light beam, which can mitigate the effects of dust and other factors. Such connectors are expected to be used to transfer high bandwidth data between electronic devices, such as smart phones, laptop personal computers, high speed processors, graphic modules, and other such electronic and mobile communication or consumer devices. The connectors are also expected to meet a variety of consumer electronic related criteria, such as small form factor, low cost, low loss for bandwidth performance, ease of cleaning, etc. Although, the received light beam is manipulated for improved performance there still are challenges for alignment and preserving optical performance of optical connector assemblies.
One type of optical connector assembly is an optical receptacle optical connector that may be used on an electronic device. These connectors are assembled into links with the active devices and coupling optics located centrally on the circuit board. A relay fiber is typically used to relay optical signals to an expanded beam connector located at an edge of the circuit board. A cable assembly having an expanded beam plug cable may then be used to optically couple a pair of devices together by receiving and/or delivering optical signals to and/or from the expanded beam connector. In another variation, the passive receptacle can be aligned with opto-electronic devices such as laser diodes and/or photodiodes disposed on the circuit board, thereby eliminating the need for relay fibers. However, in this configuration the opto-electronic devices must be located relatively close to the edge of the circuit board which can be challenging for the design of the circuit board and/or the electronic device.